


Poor Impulse Control

by DossORonovan



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Eridan has asthma, Eridan likes the same shitty hipster music as me, High School AU, Humanstuck, Lab Partners, M/M, Making Out, More characters to come, Nerds trying to date, Sollux acts a little mysterious, i will add tags as this progresses, its gonna get p serious >:), let me indulge myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10380174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DossORonovan/pseuds/DossORonovan
Summary: Eridan only knew a few things about this kid; his name was Sollux Captor and he never seemed to try, but still upstaged Eridan by far. He wasn't bothered by the fact that he was better than him, but the fact that this lanky, nerdy, blonde kid had probably never studied a day in his life pissed him off.





	1. Exhibit A: A boy who loves science more than himself

**Author's Note:**

> Dudes. I know like nobody cares anymore about this kinda shit but i started writing this forever ago n im trying to get myself motivated to write more. I cannot come up with title and chapter names that are a nice balance of serious and witty and lighthearted so I'm sorry its all so edgy and extra i promise I dont take myself THAT seriously. Im not planning on updating this SUPER often but if y'all like it enough maybe ill want to write more ;) That being said I hope you do enjoy bc I am fairly proud of the writing in this, but like I aint perfect!! (I promise the grammar is correct unlike here I am Lazy.) Indulgent High School AU GO!!!!

He'd always been pretty good at science, probably partially due to the fact that he was just interested in the subject, nonetheless he was good at it. Eridan Ampora, since the days of middle school, had been getting himself placed in advanced science classes, in which he excelled. Though he found, in this year's class, his own lab partner was proving himself to be much better.

Eridan only knew a few things about this kid; his name was Sollux Captor and he never seemed to try, but still upstaged Eridan by far. He wasn't bothered by the fact that he was better than him, but the fact that this lanky, nerdy, blonde kid had probably never studied a day in his life pissed him off.

"Hey, Sollux, we should probably work on this lab report." Eridan turned to his left, addressing said lanky blonde kid, hiding the annoyance from his tone. 

He hardly looks up from his phone when he responds, "I'll just do it later. You don't have to do it, I'd rather just do it on my own." He paused, pushing his glasses up his nose. He then looked at Eridan and continued, "You can take credit for it, I don't care."

"What? No," Eridan replied and turned more to face Sollux, confused, "we're doing it together. I mean, I'm gonna help." He insisted.

Sollux raised his eyebrows, Eridan was strange to him; he seemed like just a weird hipster with big glasses and a streak of light white in his gingery blonde hair. He didn't fit the type of 'science nerd' to him, but he clearly enjoyed the class, at least he was more interested than he was.

"Why do you want to? I'll do all of it, I really don't care." He understood what Eridan was trying to do, he just really didn't want him to.

"No!" Eridan responded quickly, pausing before saying more, "I want to work on it too, I like science projects."

“You like them?” Sollux responded, raising his eyebrows again.

“Yes!” Eridan said defensively.

“Okay,” Sollux locked his phone and continued to look at Eridan, a little frustrated that he continued to insist, “then how do you want to get it done?”

“W-well we won’t have enough time in class to finish it,” Eridan thought out loud, looking down and away from his lab partner, “so we’ll have to meet outside school, I guess. Uh, I have swimming after school today, but I can work on it after.”

Sollux sighed, looking at the clock over the classroom door. “Alright, fine.”

After the bell rang, Eridan headed to the pool, only thinking about how strange it would be to have Sollux at his house. They obviously hardly knew each other, but then again, he was the one that had insisted they do the project together in the first place. He’d seen Sollux’s test scores and knew that he would do well on the report, but in the heat of the moment his fascination to gain any knowledge he could on the subject let him deny the easy A.

He got out of the water feeling slightly out of breath and retreated to the locker room, thinking much too hard about his decision. By the time he was expecting Sollux to be there, he was completely hating on himself. Sollux clearly doesn’t want to come over to his house, again, they hardly know each other.

When he opened the door for Sollux, he felt even weirder; Sollux looked like he felt just as weird about this as he did. Hell, he was almost sure he did. He let him in, attempting to be friendly and break the ice with a, “Hey, Sollux.”

“Hey.” he responded shortly, waiting to be escorted wherever.

Eridan gestured shortly for him to follow, his 'icebreaker' falling flat. He thought quickly, leading Sollux to the living room. "We can work here, I'll go get my stuff." 

He reentered the room holding his science book and notebook, Sollux had already pulled out his laptop. Only a couple inches away from where his computer sat was lying one of Eridan's inhalers. He internally slapped himself for not realizing it was there before and leapt forward to grab it quickly. 

The sudden action earned him a confused look from Sollux, making him chuckle nervously.

"My brother, he, uh," Eridan stammered, throwing the object onto a nearby chair, "he keeps leaving his shit around."

Not many people knew about Eridan's asthma, though he didn't think he ever meant to keep the whole thing a secret, it just never came up. It wasn't something new to him either, he'd had it since he was a kid, but maybe the fact that he never really shared it made it more like a secret to him and his subconscious wanted to keep it that way.

He sat down next to Sollux quietly, cheeks turning pink after that shitty save. It hadn't been thirty seconds after Eridan flipped to the right chapter in his book when his brother did come upstairs. He was just about to ask his lab partner where they should start when he interrupted. 

"Hey, can you and your friend work somewhere else?" He asked, hardly looking at either of them and walking into the kitchen.

"What?" Eridan asked, watching him walk by, "No. We're doing homework."

"Last time I checked," he retorted from the other room, "you can do homework anywhere. I want to use the TV."

He couldn't say Cronus didn't usually do stuff like this, but it was somehow more annoying right now. He showed Sollux his look of annoyed disbelief, groaning before shouting a response.

"Fine!" Eridan stood up, grabbing his books and turning back to Sollux, "Sorry, he's a bit of a dick sometimes. We can go work in my room, I guess."


	2. Exhibit B: Boys can't keep their hands to themselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all knew things wouldn't stay so tense between these two. It's gotta be broken somehow and why not through questionable music choice?

Sollux closed his laptop and got up to follow him while laughing inwardly at Eridan. It was interesting to see him as a brother and not just his way too invested lab partner. He glanced around a bit when they entered the room, finding it different than he expected. He wasn't sure what exactly he did expect, but his room's walls hosted many posters and a whole shelf full of CDs. He realized all the posters were for artists and bands, he just didn't recognize nearly any of them.

Eridan sat down on his bed, glad that his room happened to be clean, but he noticed Sollux looking around, specifically at his posters. He suddenly felt slightly self conscious and wished he could know what the other was thinking. 

"What?" He asked, Sollux was keeping his eyes on one of them longer than the rest.

"I recognize this one, I think." Sollux responded, pointing to a Maroon 5 poster, one of the oldest ones he had.

"Oh!" He replied, relieved. He stood and went to Sollux's side, glancing at the poster as well, "Yeah, they're pretty popular now. I think their old stuff is a lot better though."

"Hm," Sollux acknowledged him, nodding once and turning to look at him. He pushed his glasses up his nose while he looked down at him. The height difference was a bit more than he remembered realizing, though he tried not to seem like he was staring when he looked up at him by moving his gaze along to the other wall. "I don't know the rest of these though." He glances again very quickly at the lineup of posters.

"Yeah," he glances around just as Sollux did, "Can't say many people ever have." He went to sit back down on the bed, and this time Sollux followed. They both sat down and the tall blonde opened his laptop again.

"We should start writing this then." He said, clicking the trackpad multiple times and shifting into a more comfortable sitting position further back on the bed.

"Right." Eridan replied, opening his book back up and shifting as well, book held up by his crossed legs.

Not even ten minutes into the start of their work and they were interrupted again. Though, before this happened, things had been going surprisingly well. Somehow, the small poster discussion had put both of them at ease to talk to each other a bit more freely. They were easily asking each other questions about the assignment and the subject itself. Eridan, however, couldn't catch a break. Cronus opened the door just as both of them were quiet and poked his head and arm into the room.

"Dad said not to leave these around, dickwad." He said, tossing the inhaler from the other room right at him and then quickly ducking out.

Eridan just barely caught it and he would have shown Sollux another look of annoyance because of his brother's actions, but he realized his lie was now way obvious. Shit, he thought.

He ventured a glance to the side and saw Sollux giving him a look, making him do a double take on the situation. Looking closer, Sollux's expression looked heavily as if it were saying 'really, dude?' And he couldn't say he appreciated it.

"What?" He asked defensively, making Sollux's expression deepen with his eyebrows furrowing even closer together and rising further up on his forehead. "Yeah, okay, it's mine, alright! Sorry for not wanting to tell everyone about my asthma." He admitted dramatically with a sour look on his face.

Sollux hesitated, thinking. "I don't think asthma is that big of a deal; I probably wouldn't have even assumed that was yours if you hadn't freaked out about it sitting on the table." Sollux told him, expression loosening, but it was still incredulous as he watched Eridan become more flustered.

Eridan's own face turned pink, thinking back to the stupid move he made back in the living room. "I didn't freak out about it!" He still insisted on defending himself, however. 

"Okay, okay." Sollux replied, he didn't want to get the other too riled up, though he did find it kind of amusing how defensive he got about something so small. He looked at his computer screen, but quickly remembered something. "Don't you swim, though?"

"Well, yeah." He looked back down at his textbook, but then squinted his eyes at Sollux. "It doesn't mean I can't do anything. And swimming is easier than everything else."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Eridan responded quickly, looking away from the other's face and getting pink again, "some stuff triggers it more easily, I guess. I lose my breath really quickly when I run, though."

Sollux made a mildly surprised 'huh', you learn something everyday, he guessed. He'd never known anyone with asthma as far as he knew, so he couldn't say he knew much about it in detail or how it really worked. He wasn't intent on pressing Eridan for info, though, so he stayed quiet and started doing work again.

Another ten minutes smoothly went by of doing the project, then another ten somehow slipped by on the clock. They both could now ask the other something or start talking to the other, even when it was quiet, without feeling awkward almost at all. Eridan hadn't really payed much mind, but he had, at some point, scooted closer to Sollux to see his computer as they worked out one of the points and now their shoulders almost touched.

Sollux was the one to notice the warmth so close to his arm and he looked over at the other boy, who had remained leaning close, but looked down at his book now. Though it felt weird for him to watch Eridan this long, he took notice of the neck of his sweater. It was cut wide and placed about half of his shoulder into view.

His eyes fixed onto the many freckles that dotted the other's neck and shoulders, though he didn't really mean to. His eyes snapped away, however, when Eridan shifted. He jumped when Eridan got his attention so he could ask him a question.

Sollux found himself getting distracted much too often, looking around at the posters again, some of the books that sat on a shelf, and even his own keyboard. He wasn't surprised about it, it happened all the time when he worked alone. He tried to stay focused for the sake of Eridan's sanity; not to say he was completely unhinged, but Sollux got the vibe that he could snap pretty easily.

Despite his efforts to concentrate solely on this project he was now staring at the shelf of CDs just close enough for him to read the names. This seemed to be a similar situation to the posters, he recognized hardly any, but vaguely knew the names of a few.

Eridan noticed the sound of Sollux's computer keys dissipate, making him glance over to see what he was doing. However, Sollux asked him a question before he was able to do the same.

"What's Skyhill?" He asked, not looking away from Eridan's albums. "Should it sound familiar to me?"

"No," Eridan replied slowly, taken by surprise, "probably not, that band isn't even together anymore. They only had that one album. I really like it, though; I wish there was more."

"Hm," he responded shortly. He almost wanted to get Eridan to talk about music more, he just kept getting more and more interesting. He turned his head back to his lab partner, "Would you mind listening to music while we work?"

"Uh, no. Do you mean that?" He gestured at 'Run With The Hunted', Skyhill's album. "Ok, here." He said when Sollux gave him a simple 'Sure' and then twisted the computer on the other's knees to face him.

Sollux resisted the urge to slap his hands away from his laptop, but quickly enough they were listening to Skyhill. Good god, Sollux thought, this was really some indie, hipster shit. Though he couldn't say it was bad, fairly nice sounding actually.

Eridan, as he had been practically the whole time he'd been there, watched Sollux from the corner of his eye. He took especially daring glances now that he was itching for a reaction from him. He'd look longer and harder for the chance to tell what he thought of the music.

How could Sollux look so simply disinterested all the time? He wanted to just ask if he liked it, the first couple songs were over, he surely had some opinion now. 

"So, do you like it?" He asked suddenly when the next song had ended.

Sollux jumped at the question, "Uhh," he hadn't been thinking about it, "Yeah, it's pretty good. Honestly, I don't usually listen to slower music, but yeah, it's nice."

Eridan smiled a bit, glad. "What do you usually listen to?" He asked curiously, the whole science project momentarily sitting at the back of his mind.

He couldn't say he listened to music very often, so it was more of the question, what music would you like, if you ever did? "Hip hop, uh, rap I guess." Sollux said shortly, shrugging his shoulders.

Eridan almost laughed thinking about that; he nodded and turned away quickly to hide the smile creeping up on his face. He was able to keep himself under control for only a few seconds and then he did start laughing and could no longer control himself.

Sollux watched him crack up in disbelief. "Hey, fuck you!" He said, ignoring his cute laugh.

Eridan tried very hard to dim his laughter, to stop it altogether, but the image of Sollux rapping was burned into his mind and shit, if that wasn't hilarious right now. "No, no! It's not funny!" He panted between bouts of laughter.

Sollux started to smile too, still watching him lose it. He guessed it was kind of stupid, he was just some white kid after all. He chuckled a little and Eridan's laughing finally died down.

Eridan looked over to him, trying not to smile and hoping he wouldn't be upset, but Sollux was grinning just as stupidly as he was. He giggled at his own stupid move, looking away sheepishly.

Sollux snorted at the silly giggle, but he admitted, only to himself, that it made Eridan even cuter. His cheeks turned pink at the thought, though.

If the project was at the back of Eridan's mind before, it wasn't anywhere in there now. He smirked and tried not to start laughing again as he started to ask a question, "So, do you listen to like, Eminem?"

"No!" Sollux shouted after barking a laugh. "I have never listened to Eminem voluntarily."

"Guess who’s back-" Eridan mocked him.

"Shut up!" He shoved his shoulder lightly, laughing again. 

He decided to spare Sollux his singing and anymore mocking. Though, now, he noticed something about his lab partner he was surprised he missed every other time he'd seen him.

"Woah, your eyes," he trailed off, suddenly transfixed. He leaned closer to Sollux's face than typical personal space rules (aka common sense) would probably allow, but he had to get closer to make sure he wasn't seeing things. No, his eyes weren't fooling him, Sollux's eyes were two different colors.

Sollux almost jolted backwards when he leaned so close, but quickly was able to tell what he was referring to before he even said it and stayed put to let him see. It wasn't by any means an uncommon thing that people he didn't even know would ask him about.

Eridan absent-mindedly leaned even closer, simply intrigued by them. Sollux's right eye was brown and the left was blue. 

Sollux (Eridan as well) was shocked that he hadn't noticed until now, he'd just assumed that he did see them but didn't care about asking. Now that he had noticed, he just stared in wonder at them. With Eridan so close to him, he could tell that not only did he have freckles on his shoulders, he had them practically covering his cheeks and nose.

"How does that happen?" Eridan asked, not backing away or looking at anything else.

"I don't really know," He responded, "but it's called heterochromia, if you want to know about it I guess." He didn't know what he wanted him to tell him, but he figured he'd want to learn about something like that.

Silently, they both sat there, frozen, looking at each other. Sollux noticed the small things about the other while Eridan looked between his eyes. 

Other than the freckles that seemed to be all over him, Eridan had long, light eyelashes and really pink lips. Fixated on them, Sollux seemed to lean closer still.

Eridan seemed to copy the movement when he saw where the other was looking. He swallowed hard, "They're cool." He whispered, still gazing into his eyes.

They both lurched forward at nearly the same time, closing the already small gap between them and they softly pressed their lips together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How not to hide how NONhetero you are.


	3. Continuation of Exhibit B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think I kissed my lab partner."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how dumb is cutting the chapter right after the kiss. so dumb. no worries. there is more and there will continue to be more. im still running on what I had previously written but I think I got time coming up to actually add onto this soon. Thanks for reading!!

At first, the kiss was light and pretty stiff, but Sollux peeked his eyes open to see how Eridan was reacting.

His eyes were shut tight, but he seemed okay with this. Sollux knew he was beyond okay with this, so he shut his eyes again and gently pressed into his lips a little harder. Their pace became slow and lazy after Eridan opened his eyes too, melting onto his mouth as he saw how relaxed Sollux was.

Neither could tell how much time had passed, they were too lost in each other. Though it was hard to tell when, at some point Sollux pushed his laptop off his knees and brought his arm around to the other side of Eridan so that their bodies twisted to face each other. His hand pressed into the bed by Eridan's hip to hold himself up.

Eridan had no idea how Sollux could keep his movements so calm. He, himself, seemed to be frozen from the neck down and having a near mental breakdown internally. He simply couldn't believe what was happening, he couldn't remember what lead to this, and Sollux's lips were way softer than they had the right to be.

Externally, all was fine, but-

Oh fuck, was that his tongue on his lip?

He couldn't think at all and as far as he knew he was just a melted puddle lying on the bed, but Sollux kissed him still. His brain didn't seem to be working at all, but when Sollux bit his lip and swiftly rolled it between his teeth he was pretty sure it exploded. 

That simple move by Sollux nearly got him to moan, but then again he didn't think he could hear or move, so maybe he had just moaned into the other's mouth. 

Sollux smirked smugly when the smallest of strained sounds escaped Eridan. The freckled boy ended up being the one to split them after the kiss of undetermined length; he pulled his head back with his eyes still closed and panted quietly, catching his breath while trying to catch his thoughts.

Sollux was the first to open his eyes and he watched the other take shaky breaths. "Breathing okay?" He asked with a smug smile.

Eridan's eyes flew open, his comment snapping him back into his senses. His mouth hung open and he was speechless. He was fairly sure Sollux was trying to get back at him for earlier, but wow. "Fuck you, oh my god." He responded quietly, though he fought a dumb smile.

Sollux chuckled and pulled his arm back, sitting back next to Eridan like he'd never even moved. They both realized the music that was still playing and Sollux pulled his computer into his lap to see what they had finished. 

He sighed, they weren't close to finishing. Before he could figure out what they'd do now that all that had happened, Sollux's phone buzzed.

"Ah, shit." He said, running a hand through his hair and reading the message he'd received. "Fuck, I should go."

Eridan watched him stand and start grabbing all his things. "Oh, okay." That sure was quick. He put his textbook to the side and stood up as well, Sollux was already headed for the door.

"Sorry, we'll," he started, putting his shoes on hurriedly, "we'll have to do this again to actually finish. Maybe we won't get distracted next time." He smirked as he walked out the door.

He said a short "bye" and waved as he walked down the sidewalk. God, he hoped they'd get distracted again.

Eridan nearly slammed the door shut and ran his hands through his hair, emotions so jumbled he could hardly think straight. He whipped his phone out and opened a new message, but deemed his hands too shaky to demonstrate that much dexterity at the moment, so he called instead.

"Hey, Fef, can I come over?" He spat frantically.

Arriving at Feferi's house took only a short amount of time, leaping to the door once it was in sight. He slammed his finger into the doorbell so hard he might as well have punched it.

Feferi answered, looking worried. Eridan's frantic state did nothing to soothe her concern. "Eridan, is everything okay?" She asked, stepping to the side to let him in.

"Uh, well," he stuttered, stepping inside, "yeah, I guess so." He smiled a little, cheeks pink.

"Then what is it?" She asked, puzzled by his sudden giddy attitude.

"I, uh, I think I kissed my lab partner?" He said, now looking nervous.

Feferi paused, even more puzzled, "What do you mean you think you did?" She asked, taking him by the wrist and pulling him away from the front door to go make Eridan, and more importantly herself, some hot cocoa.

"Well, we did, I know we did. I'm just," he paused, too many emotions running through him to be able to describe how he felt right now, "oh my god, Fef."

"What?" She asked, "Is it okay? What else happened?"

Eridan sipped his hot chocolate and told her everything that happened with as much detail as he could remember, sighing when he got to the point where Sollux left.

"Fef, he was so good at it." He said dreamily.

She chuckled, now relaxed because she knew this wasn't as serious as Eridan had been making it out to be. "So, then what's the dilemma? It sounds to me like you're pretty excited about this."

"I," his face contorted in thought, "I guess I just don't know why. We don't really know each other all that well and, I mean, if he likes me I'm not sure I could tell."

"Eridan! There's no way he doesn't like you!" She slammed her hand on the counter. "Did you hear what you described to me? It was like a crappy romance novel!"

"How do you know for sure?" He asked, he wasn't about to just believe her. Maybe if she saw them talk to each other she would be able to tell.

"If he didn't like you and he still did all that stuff, he'd be some kind of asshole." Feferi responded quickly, sipping her own drink.

Eridan frowned, what if he was just a major asshole that was messing with him? He hoped not because thinking about the kiss still made his insides all mushy and warm; it would be a nightmare if it had been fake.

His heart sunk as he continued to think about this possibility. He had left almost immediately after they kissed, what if he faked having to leave just so he didn't have to keep talking to him? What if when he saw him tomorrow he wasn't interested in talking to him?

He didn't voice his paranoid concerns to Feferi, but she noticed his silence nonetheless. "What is it?"

"What do I say to him tomorrow?" He asked gloomily.

"Hey, quit being so worried! Just let it happen, you'll be fine." She said with her signature, kind, reassuring smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"Will you come with me to science tomorrow?" He asked, pleading her with his eyes.

"Okay, fine." She chuckled, "I'll come see the chemistry." She waggled her eyebrows at him.

Eridan snorted at the silly pun.


	4. An Example Of Good Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You just kissed him," Aradia started and Sollux replied with a confused 'yes' because he'd already told her he did, "and then left without saying anything?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks 4 a hundred hits!!!! <3

Sollux, later that night, was also thinking about Eridan. He had mentioned what had happened to his best friend Aradia while they played some MMO with each other. Though, instead of being happy or excited, she got mad.

"You just kissed him," Aradia started and Sollux replied with a confused 'yes' because he'd already told her he did, "and then left without saying anything?"

"I guess so, but I had to!" Sollux defended himself. "You know I did."

"Well, you could have said something to him at least," she retorted, her voice slightly different than in person due to the low quality audio of their chat system, "he probably had no idea what the fuck that was!"

"It was a kiss!" He said incredulously, "What else would he think it was?"

Aradia sighed dramatically and paused. "Do you like him?" She asked simply and calmly.

Sollux paused as well, "Well, I don't really-"

"Sollux, please ditch the apathetic crap for two seconds and answer my question like a normal person." She interjected forcefully, audio popping in and out.

"Fine!" He yelled, exasperated. "Yeah, I do." He groaned when his avatar fell to the ground, KO'd.

"But he doesn't know that, does he?" Aradia replied. "So, he's probably confused!"

Sollux sighed, she was probably right. "Yeah, yeah."

"So, when you see him, you should probably ask him out," she emphasized 'probably' in a way Sollux knew she meant 'definitely', "or just don't kiss him again, okay?"

"Fine, jeez," Sollux said, unsure about how to even go about asking him out, "mom."

She finally laughed, glad she'd gotten through to him, hoping he would actually take her advice.

Both of them anticipated the next day to be awkward and neither had any idea what to say, given the abrupt departure of Sollux. That fact alone gave Eridan a lot to think about, but he wouldn't ever ask why he had to go so soon, it would probably be intrusive.

As the morning droned along, it was the only thing on Eridan's mind, as much a he tried to brush his thoughts away.

Feferi entered the classroom with him and they went to the back of the class where Eridan and Sollux sat together. Eridan placed his head on the table, groaning.

“Oh, stop that! I told you a million times, it'll be fine.” Fef insisted, rolling her eyes and adding a little quieter, “You don't really have time to be complaining, he's right there!”

Eridan’s head shot up, hair flipping to the wrong side of his head. He pointedly looked anywhere but the door, face now pale. Feferi started to walk away, smirk plastered on her face.

“Fef! You bitch!” He whisper-yelled, calling to her desperately with his hands on the table, gripping at nothing. She never looked back and he could see Sollux approaching out of the corner of his eye.

He tried to busy himself with retrieving his materials for class as Sollux sat down. Eridan kept his eyes buried in his backpack, feigning a search for something lost in its depths.

“Hey,” it was short and relaxed, but Eridan jolted nonetheless. He whipped to face him and respond, but kept his eyes from meeting with Sollux’s.

“Hi,” He squeaked, strained and stiff. He blinked and added a moment too late to address him by name, “Sollux.”

He’d take time later to hate himself for that.

“Were you looking to finish the report tonight?” Sollux asked.

“Oh, uh,” he stammered, pausing for lack of something logical to say, “if you're free to. It would be nice to have it finished, I mean.”

“Alright, then I'll come over again. That work?” Sollux asked.

“Sure.” Eridan said shortly, shoulders tense.

The bell rang overhead and Eridan took the opportunity to turn away from the tall blonde and face the front of the room. He wanted to focus his attention anywhere but at Sollux to make this red on his face go away.

“You know, I did have fun yesterday. I shouldn't have to leave so quickly this time.” Sollux said, a little quieter.

That really didn't help with the blush creeping down his neck. He shot a look at the other for insinuating what he thought he was and received only a smirk back. Maybe he would have said he'd had fun too, but now, no way.

Sollux never would have said something like that and certainly would never have flirted like that, but he was trying to follow Aradia’s words. He wasn't going to ask him out right now, that seemed inappropriate, so he guessed he'd try to make it painfully obvious that he was coming onto him, just in case there were doubts.

Eridan told him there was no swimming that day, therefore the project could begin as soon as possible. Great, the horror of this encounter even earlier. He sighed and, with a shaking hand, started taking notes.

Of course, all he could think of throughout the whole hour was yesterday. He flushed at the thought of looking into Sollux’s eyes, his soft lips pressing onto his own, Sollux’s arm crossed over him, trapping him in.

He rubbed a hand on his face, trying to get his brain to quit it, goddamn it. Nonetheless, he imagined Sollux biting his lip once again. He sighed, waiting impatiently for every minute to pass until school was over.

He practically sprang from his seat when the time came, planning on taking a cold shower when he got home. Cronus wasn't home when he got there, neither was his dad.

He distracted himself as best as he could, glad neither of his family members were home to bug him while he relaxed. When he heard Sollux knock on the door, he was shockingly calm, answering quietly and quickly with a blank expression on his face.

“Hey, Eridan.”

Well, that was the end of his collected attitude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another short one but if i didnt cut it I'd have to wait longer to post more because i am reaching the end of what I previously written. I hope I can get the next one done soon tho!!!


	5. How Often Will Exhibit B Be Showing It's Face?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every time Sollux shifted, moved a little closer, placed his hand gently on his neck, Eridan’s chest tightened. Sollux was just running a hand through his hair when he heard buzzing again.

At the sight of Sollux and the sound of his voice, Eridan’s skin prickled. A hot, bubbling feeling in his chest made him look down and away from Sollux’s thin face.

He stepped back quickly to let Sollux in. “We can go work up in my room again.” He said quietly, hurrying up the stairs after closing the door behind Sollux.

He entered his room and waited for his lab partner to follow, taking this one moment by himself to take a deep breath. What was he supposed to say to him?

He didn't notice when he did walk in, so when Sollux started talking to him, he whipped around in surprise, not expecting him to be so close.

“We have nearly half done, so I think we can probably finish this lab report pretty quickly,” He pulled out his laptop, stepping from the door frame to the edge of Eridan’s bed, “Maybe another hour or so?”

“Right.” Eridan said, slowly regaining composure. “Great.” He followed Sollux, both of them returning to their places on his bed.

“Any music you want to listen to?” Sollux asked as he situated the computer in his lap.

Eridan smiled, reaching for the laptop, “Here.”

Again, Sollux nearly shoved his hands away for grabbing at his laptop like that. “Oh no.” He mumbled, holding himself back.

Eridan laughed, he was proud of what he’d managed to find last night, a nice playlist of hip hop, all of a caliber similar to Eminem, it even included some of his greatest hits. He bobbed his head jokingly to the music and snorted when Sollux sighed and huffed a disappointed chuckle. He had to admit it was kind of funny, if he hadn't been expecting it so much. 

With just a shake of his head, Sollux pulled the computer toward himself, pulling up their report and keeping the music on with a pointed look at the boy next to him. He watched Eridan pull out his textbook and they set to work. The air was not tense like it had been a couple times yesterday, except for a few uncomfortable lyrics playing quietly. They worked diligently this time, they discussed the report and got through it quickly. 

In a quiet moment, Eridan heard a few soft buzzes from somewhere close on the other side of Sollux. Sollux looked at his phone, but ultimately ignored it. Eridan felt something really strange watching it out of the corner of his eye. A stupid sense of importance because this time, he wasn't leaving because of a message he received.

This was very stupid of course, it was likely it wasn't even something urgent to Sollux. He shook the feeling away, but before he knew it, the report was finished. Sollux saved it with a great sigh of relief and then shut his computer. He then turned to Eridan and said, “So, did you actually want to do the report yourself?”

“Yes!” Eridan retorted quickly. “So sorry if I care about somethin’ academic. Don't you have a subject you like?”

“No, not really.” Sollux replies shortly, “Not anything that you take in school.”

Eridan huffed, he bet he had good grades in all his classes anyways. “Then what do you like to do, other than be a snarky A-hole?”

“Good one,” he mocked half-heartedly, “I like computer programming, codes and stuff.” Eridan’s expression was hard to read but it looked like he was maybe sizing Sollux up all over again, deciding if he found this fitting and acceptable. 

Of course, he had no issue imagining him typing away at a computer for hours. He quickly loosened his face and attitude. “Is there other stuff you like to do?” He asked, though his tone was not hostile anymore, just conversational. 

“Uh, I don't fucking know, dude.” Sollux replied, a little flustered from the forceful questions.

Eridan frowned but he let go of trying to press him more. “Then what are we gonna do?” He asked genuinely. 

Carefully hanging on each word, trying not to sound too eager, Sollux replied, “We could always do what we did yesterday?” 

Eridan's stomach flipped, very agreeable to that proposition, but his mouth betrayed him as soon as he opened it. “Is that all we’re ever going to do?” He didn't ask in a confrontational manner, but fucking Christ why couldn't he just say ‘okay’.

The other boy paused for a moment and made a strange face that only lasted a split second before he said something. “No, we could, I guess… go on a date.” 

Eridan froze, of all things, that was not what he was expecting. His stomach flipped three times over and he struggled to find a suitable response. “Well, what are we gonna do then?” He asked quietly, face dark with blush.

Sollux heaved a sigh, “Can't we just worry about it later?” He asked and leaned swiftly toward Eridan, but slowed to a stop when he got a few inches away from his face. “Isn't that fair?”

The smaller boy sucked in a breath and forced himself not to move. His eyes darted between Sollux’s. His were still mismatched and beautiful. “Yeah, sure.” He stammered quite stupidly. Though, Sollux didn't seem to notice his awkwardness, he still leaned forward to close their gap. 

Right before they met, he whispered, “Good.” Then, their lips met once again. Thanks to Sollux, they quickly matched their pace from yesterday, however, Eridan wasn't paralyzed in place this time.

He did his best to remain unflustered as he reciprocated the kiss, but it was made difficult by Sollux’s tongue once again tentatively brushing against Eridan’s bottom lip. Eridan made a small noise in response, somewhat of a tense sigh and then mimicked the action.

Sollux replaced his hand on the other side of Eridan, where it had been yesterday and Eridan once again struggled to keep himself calm. Every time Sollux shifted, moved a little closer, placed his hand gently on his neck, Eridan’s chest tightened. Sollux was just running a hand through his hair when he heard buzzing again.

Sollux only faltered for a moment, but he made no movements to break apart from Eridan. The smaller boy felt a small hint of nervousness beyond what nervous feelings he was already experiencing from having Sollux all over him.

Not a minute later, Sollux’s phone vibrated again. And again. And then, a steady stream of buzzes continued that were in such quick succession that they sounded like an insect trapped in a screen door. 

Sollux finally separated their lips with an exasperated sigh. He snatched his phone up and sat staring at it and scrolling with his thumb for a few moments. Then, the phone buzzed again in his hand, but in a steady separated rhythm. He groaned frustratedly while Eridan watched him the whole time with raised eyebrows.

Sollux lifted the phone to his ear and then looked to Eridan, taking in his shock and closing his eyes and releasing a deep breath to calm himself a little as he began speaking over the line. “What is so important, Aradia?”

Eridan could hear a girl’s voice on the other side, but just as a faint murmur, no distinct words at all. Sollux, face a little flushed, just looked at Eridan and listened to her go on. He didn't look worried like something was wrong, though, he looked more annoyed, as if this happened often.

He interrupted her as soon as there was a short break in her speech, “Do you know where I am right now?” He asked, still not taking his eyes away from the other boy. A longer pause on the other side of the phone. “Studying.” Sollux said shortly.

Eridan heard an elongated “Ohh, okay” through the phone. She said something else short and Sollux hung up and threw his phone down.

He didn't quite throw himself back at Eridan, but he clearly very much wanted to resume their activities. Before Sollux could meet him, Eridan asked the taller boy, “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, sorry.” The blonde replied, pressing their lips together, this time with his leg thrown over so that it was between Eridan’s. 

He pulled his arms up to wrap around Sollux’s shoulders, “You sure? What’d she say?” He whispered against his lips nonetheless.

Sollux grunted and hardly shifted at all to say “Does it matter right now?” He growled impatiently, not taking another second to pause from kissing him. Eridan thought about how he sure seemed stubborn. And enthusiastic, but could he really say it bugged him?

Despite being a little overwhelmed, Eridan made no objections, though he did try to get Sollux to cool down a bit. It seemed to work, he slowed himself down and Eridan could practically feel him relax. Not much time passed before Eridan realized he was totally distracted again, and Sollux was the one to separate them once he noticed how absent-minded his lab partner had become. “What’s up?” He asked.

Eridan hummed, thinking for another short moment. “Just keep wonderin’ about that date.”

Sollux flopped over, staring at the ceiling for a moment, then glancing to his side, up at the shorter of the two. “Saturday?”

Eridan thought for just a moment before he nodded in agreement, but then scowled, making Sollux raise an eyebrow at him. “We still not gonna talk about what we’re gonna do? We’re just going to, what, sit around and listen to shitty rap until one of us thinks of something to do?”

The blonde rolled his eyes and sighed greatly as he sat up, why on earth did he have to be so stubborn and insistent sometimes? “Dude, it’s just a date, don’t worry about it so much.” At which, Eridan made a little disgruntled face and looked away, he turned pink and Sollux decided not to press him on whatever he was thinking. “Dude, I’ll pick you up Saturday. It’ll be fine, okay?”

Eridan shifted, but shrugged and smiled. “Alright, fine.” 

Later, Sollux left with a kiss to Eridan’s cheek (which made the latter’s stomach flip more than it ever had before) and a reconfirmation of their date time. After he left, Eridan leaned with his back against the door and smiled goofily while he sent a text to Feferi.

“Why the fuck do you look like that?” Cronus asked him as he walked by his brother. Eridan didn’t bother retorting this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh snap guys I'm now completely out of old stuff. The next chapter will be completely fresh! wish me luck oh god.


	6. Don't Leave Your Shit In The Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan and Sollux have their date, but this time, their impulse control is pretty okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh shit guys i thought this was gonna be done a lot sooner but i had a lot things to finish up for a con i went to last weekend (ayy im a cosplayer as well) and then had a busy week right after. So if you were waiting for this for whatever god damn reason here we have it!!! tbh tried my best with this one but it might not be exactly how i wanted it. but yall better fuckin strap IN

When Sollux got into his car, he checked all the messages from Aradia, he was hardly surprised. She was always hiking through any wooded area she could find, looking for things left behind and collecting random, filthy objects with unknown origins. She claimed that was what was so intriguing about the things; where had this dirty old baseball cap come from? Only she’d care. That’s what all the texts and the call had been about, Sollux’s best friend had found a hidden little path in a forest a few miles from her house, she hadn’t been there much yet, but Sollux knew that she’d change that before the week was done.

She had sent tons of pictures of a hilly and cliffed area dense with trees, just a skinny dirt path snaking away into its depths, it was everything she dreamed of. She couldn’t wait to take a full day to explore it and she couldn’t wait a single minute to share it with Sollux, clearly. After he’d gotten the gist of all the messages, he called her back and began driving away from Eridan’s house. “Dude.” He grumbled before Aradia could say anything.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She responded, he could hear the smile in her voice. “Next time I’ll wait until you respond to your texts before I call and interrupt you making out with your lab partner!” 

He heard her laugh quite loudly on the other end and waited for her to be finished with his jaw clenched before he responded, “Ha ha. Yep. Is now the time for you to be mocking me?” he chuckled during her incredulous moment of silence. “Oh, please! You can’t keep a lid on yourself every time you see a piece of trash lying on the side of the road--” she interjected with an offended yet amused huff, but he did not stop ”--I wonder who this empty pack of cigarettes belonged to?” he jeered, grinning widely.

She was laughing again, but hastily attempting to regain her composure. “Okay, but for real, how did everything go?” She asked when her and Sollux’s laughter died down. “I swear if you don’t have a date planned with that boy--”

“Okay, relax! I do, I promise. This Saturday.” Sollux spat out, hoping to get her to drop this quickly.

“Ooh! Okay, good. I'm proud of you.” She said, and he rolled his eyes. She almost started speaking again, but Sollux shut her down very quickly, whatever it was she was going to say.

“Are you gonna tell me about this thing you found or what?” Listening to her blather on about trees she hadn't even explored yet was honestly much better than her continuing to weakly mock him.

“Yes! Okay,” she started only after a brief pause in the call. She talked for the rest of his ride home and then another ten minutes after he entered his home about when she was going to go out there again, what she'd do and bring, and how she'd search the area. 

In all honesty, he knew very much that things like this were what made her happy and it was nice to hear her go on and on like this once in awhile. It meant she was enjoying herself.

Saturday came along quickly, and Eridan managed to get through the light awkwardness that still hung between him and his Lab Date. He was feeling okay about everything, but then began frantically texting Feferi to make sure that he was really prepared and looked appropriate. He ended up calling her and spending a long time on speaker phone while he changed his shirt three more times.

Feferi reassured him to stay casual and not to worry so much, and having been told that by Sollux a few days earlier as well, he decided on his current outfit with a huff. He flopped down onto the bed and groaned and checked the time.

“Fef, I gotta go, it's almost time.” He said as if he now had to go to an unpleasant doctor’s visit.

“Cheer up!” She laughed lightly a little before hanging up.

Optimism met with pessimism often between Eridan and her.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Eridan’s stomach sank. He took one deep breath before opening up the door and he had such a silly feeling as soon as he saw his date, like he was suddenly just seeing him for the first time ever, and he was very handsome. He really didn't look any different than he had in school, he wasn't dressed any differently, just his mind playing stupid tricks on him.

“Ready to go?” Sollux asked when Eridan didn't say anything. 

“Uh, yeah. Of course.” From behind him he heard a yell, didn't sound like his dad to Sollux, must have been his brother again.

“Dude, where are you going?” He asked, not as though he needed to know but like he needed a favor from Eridan while he was out.

“Nowhere!” Eridan shouted back right before shutting the door behind himself.

Sollux laughed a little bit and didn't see his date press a hand into his eyes while he tried to collect himself, but he did take a really quick peek at the other one while he was laughing. They got into the car and the shorter of the two took a deep breath. “So, what are we going to do?” He asked slowly, hoping he'd remembered their lack of a plan, especially since Sollux had been the one to insist they didn't make a plan.

“Hm,” He thought for just a moment, glancing down at his phone at a couple messages he'd just received; it was Aradia, she'd already started sending him pictures of the woods as he knew she was going to. Apparently today was the day for exploring. He tossed his phone to the back seat to avoid the new messages that were sure to start rolling in any time now. “Movies?” He asked, unsure whether Eridan typically enjoyed movies, but it was simple. 

Eridan nodded, “What’s out right now?”

They ended up seeing some sci-fi film after a long discussion about the quality and change of recent movies that started in the car and ended in their theater seats. Their chemistry seemed to bloom again and Eridan flashed a ridiculous, giddy smile when Sollux described today's movies as “two-hour-long, poorly scripted shitshows“.

They stopped discussing when the lights dimmed, Sollux was surprised to find that Eridan was the kind of person to lean over during a movie and talk. Every few minutes he’d whisper something at him, criticizing the movie and even making a joke or two. Of course, this annoyed the shit out of him, but he didn't say anything. Not half way through, Eridan leaned over again, making a comment about how little sense any of the “science” in the film made. Sollux did agree with him, but instead of saying anything, he swung his arm around Eridan’s shoulders before he leaned back into his own seat.

Eridan stiffened a little bit. Oh shit, he'd gotten so involved in debunking the entire stupid movie that he’d nearly forgotten that he was on a fucking date.

He stayed a lot quieter throughout the rest of the movie, face tinted red nearly the whole time because he stayed leaning into his date’s side. As the film faded to a close, Sollux looked to Eridan.

“So?” He asked the other shortly, not pulling his arm away.

“It was okay.” Eridan shrugged a little, and then standing up to leave. “Wasn't expecting too much.”

“Okay? Do you complain that much about every movie, then?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

Eridan gave him a little offended look. “I am not answering that.”

They left the theater, Sollux was chuckling and teasing him more, but Eridan let him replace his arm around his shoulders. He silently took a moment to admit to himself that he actually really liked that Sollux was taller than him. That thought was just for him though, and maybe Fef later.

They ended up taking a walk around town and ultimately spent another couple of hours together, wandering about and chatting. Eridan was giggling uncontrollably like a six year old when they were approaching the car again and he had to fight hard to get words out. “You're fucking kidding, what did it sound like?”

Sollux sighed, but he smiled. “Until I was about ten, I thounded like thith.” Sollux pressed his tongue into the back of his teeth while he talked to imitate the prominent frontal lisp he had when he was a kid, Eridan erupted. He was laughing so hard he had to start holding himself up against the car door. To be honest, Sollux didn't really mind being laughed at, Eridan was funny enough to watch.

He got into the car and grabbed his phone from the back seat (he realized he left it there halfway through their walk) and gave it a quick check while he let Eridan calm down. He actually had less texts from Aradia than he’d been expecting, but most recently, and most confusingly, he had three missed calls and a message from Aradia’s sister.

He listened to the message while Eridan was stepping into the passenger’s seat.

“CALL ME!” Panicked and fucking pissed.

She had been so loud that Eridan heard as well, and he gave Sollux a wide eyed look. “Shit,” he whispered, “I guess I should call her back, it should be quick.” Eridan gave him a quick nod, honestly a little worried for Sollux, he didn’t know who had left the message, he just honestly hoped it wasn’t his mom or something.

The phone only rang once before she picked up.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Clearly still irritated, Sollux sighed.

“I forgot my phone in the car for a while. What’s so urgent?”

“I swear to god, Sollux, Aradia’s in the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy fucking (late) 4/13 you weeaboos. Whos fucked up now. ok also i am livid bc i cant get the end note from the first chapter to stop appearing at the end of this chapter and i cannot for the life of me figure out why its even there to begin with?????? I even deleted it from the first chapter itself and its still fucking hEERE

**Author's Note:**

> I think thats pretty short but i didnt know where to cut it for the first chapter because this is written in one big thing and its not split up at all hahahahahaha so tell me what you think and hmu if i made any dumbass mistakes that I never noticed. This is just a for fun thing for me but I really do hope to make it enjoyable to read, I have a couple friends who read it and liked it so i thought why not post it somewhere. More to come soon of what I've already written probably!! If you know who I am I'm so sorry.


End file.
